In a league of her own

‘Pie Lady’ was a straight-shooter and the life of the party

By: Nicole Buffie

Betty Gyles went by many names over the years: Mom, Grandma, hostess — and later in life, “Pie Lady.”

Elizabeth, known as Betty to most, was born in Winnipeg’s River Heights neighbourhood to Bill and Elizabeth Armstrong. She was the youngest child in her family, with three siblings: Bill, Bob and Barb.

Gyles grew up soaking up the sun in northwest Ontario, where her parents owned a cottage; it was there she learned to love to swim and sunbathe and sit on the “reading rock” with her sister.

Gyles would write stories and after each page was finished Betty would read them and it counted toward her summer reading goal.

Little did Gyles know at the time that cottage country in Ontario would become her retirement plan and an integral part of her later life.

As a teen in high school, she met Harold Gyles, who was a year her senior, but the two wouldn’t date until after graduation. Through mutual friends in university, the pair connected and married in 1951.

Around that time, she trained as a nurse at St. Boniface Hospital, but her professional life took a back seat when she had kids.

The Gyleses had six children, four boys and two girls. One of their daughters, Shelley, died at three months old.

If juggling careers and children weren’t enough, they also hosted two nephews from Trinidad who came to Canada for a better education.

“My mom was a very welcoming, gracious host,” son Bill said. “She liked having people over. If there was two or three extra people for dinner, she wouldn’t bat an eye.”

As with most big families, the Gyleses operated with an open-door policy and guests were a constant in the household. If it wasn’t the kids having friends over, it was the couple hosting parties that went late into the night.

“I remember we would have friends over and Mom and Dad would come home and join the party,” daughter, Lauren, said. “We would also sit on the staircase and watch the parties they threw. They were always elaborate and an absolute blast, even though we were just kids.”

Gyles’ open-door policy extended beyond their family home and out to Keewatin, where they had a cottage. Betty was already familiar with the Lake of the Woods, having spent summers there as a girl, and when the opportunity came to buy the Ken-O-Kee Lodge, they took it.

The couple turned it into a family cabin and made life-long friends with everyone in the area.

The Gyleses were known for their dinner parties and gatherings, where Betty was the hostess with the mostess. Dinner would usually be followed by a card game or a board game, or a bonfire that flickered late into the night.

After taking a continuing education course at Red River College Polytech, Gyles worked in nursing at several agencies, including the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba as an intake nurse.

“She found it interesting. She was pretty good at reading people and I think that they understood that,” Bill said. “She was genuinely liked by almost everybody she met.”

After the Gyleses retired, they winterized their cottage and lived there full-time, where the good times kept on going.

During summers at Keewatin, the gatherings often extended beyond the confines of the cabin and spilled into the neighbours’ properties.

Gyles was a regular customer at My Place restaurant in Keewatin. As the story goes, one day in the early 2000s, she was dining with her daughter and asked the server what they had for dessert.

Lauren told the server her mother made the best pies and soon she struck up a relationship with the diner’s owner and began baking for them.

“We were already a popular restaurant, but her pies definitely added to it,” said Shalene Rawluk, owner of the now-shuttered restaurant.

Gyles’ eye for detail showed in her work, Rawluk recalls. She used seasonal ingredients and her cream and fruit-based pies were sought after.

She soon became known as the “Pie Lady” in Keewatin and the surrounding area, but to staff at the restaurant she was a loyal member of the family.

“I could call her before the weekend to say we sold out of all the pies and then she would make a new batch of pies for the weekend. She was really dedicated to it,” Rawluk said.

According to her son, Bill, her affinity for baking wasn’t evident until later in life.

“I probably had dessert six times in my life, so I don’t know where she got it,” Bill joked.

Although she was married to a judge, Gyles had a light that shone on its own. She went to the many events her husband dutifully attended, but never lived in the shadow of his career.

The Gyleses were involved members of the Gyro Club, an international fraternity with a Winnipeg chapter.

Fellow member and friend Craig Cormack remembers Betty as a warm, inviting individual, but one who always spoke her mind.

“Betty would never sugarcoat anything,” Cormack said. “She called a spade a spade. When she said something, you could take it to the bank.”

Those who knew her say Gyles bucked the trend. She fished, hunted and served as president of the Womens’ Curling League at the now defunct Highlander Curling Club.

Gyles also loved to sing and dance — even once dancing on a broken heel because “you dance on your toes.”

Lauren said being the sole girl to grow up in the family gave her the opportunity to bond with her mother later in life, but also taught her to represent the strong women who came before her.

“She was a good role model and I try to be also, because it’s what I came from,” Lauren said.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca